The Talented One
by JadedFire
Summary: Gruma Va is a telepathic Kaminoan. She is married to a Quackian,Yolgun, who is being hunted down by Boba Fett. All characters are original except Boba Fett, Taun We, and Lama Su.


The Talented One 

Disclaimer: I do not own SW and never will. I am not using this story to get money.

AN: I wrote this story some time back and I hope you'll like it. This was originally the first fanfic I posted on I took it off when I had no reviews. Which I now regret. The time setting is after ANH and before TESB. 

Boba Fett. The name usually strikes fear in the heart of any sentient being in space. For Yolgun the Third of the planet Quack in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, the bounty hunter seemed more terrifying. Maybe because his parents, both Queen and King of Quack, had both smuggled spice from Jabba the Hutt.

_I should have been called Yolgun the Last, as I am the only sentient being on this whole planet thanks to Vader and the Emperor _Yolgun thought bitterly, trying to read his "How to Put Together a Lightsaber Without Blowing Yourself Up" manual.

_If it were not for Vader's Jedi purge, we would be prosperous..._

Yolgun's thoughts drifted away. He set the manual aside for a moment to take a break from reading the tedious details. He lived in a cave to hide himself in one of the millions of sprawling tunnels and caverns. He recalled the name of the cave dimly. Sith's Death Grip. It was called this because this used to be the meeting place of neighboring Sith Lords.

He shook his head slowly from side to side. Those Sith Lords of old were gone now. What remained in their place was the Emperor and Vader. Now, if only he had a lightsaber and was better Force talented. He'd be only too happy to dispose of both tyrants, even if he had to ask a bounty hunter to do the dirty work for him (or try). He shuddered, his green scales making a scratchy sound. Still, it was worth a shot.

He saw a twenty legged spikklon crawl out of a tiny crevice in the solid rock of the cave. The mammalian insect squeaked in sight of him, but he was too quick and destroyed it under his hoof-like feet. Disgusted with it, he used the Force to extract the oozing remains from the lifeless rock. Maybe someday he'd feel like eating one of those things, but for now he wasn't hungry at all.

His desire now was to meditate on the Force.

_Peace, there is peace and tranquility..._

He barely started when he heard blaster shots from outside. Feeling a little peeved, he crept deeper into his cave. He heard nothing else. Odd. Who would be firing shots over here in this desolate place? That bounty hunter surely hadn't teamed up with another to take him down together and then split the reward between the two.

Despite his attempts to continue his meditation on the Force, he couldn't. He was scared. His knobby knees were knocking together, his head and back spines were laying almost horizontal against green scales. His scales were now blue tinged from fear.

_I know that they or _he _can't be after me. Sure I helped my parents but, that wouldn't be enough to send Fett after me. _

Such thoughts only deepened his fear—as though he had opened a dark pit of fears.  
_I _he thought, squeezing both violet eyes shut. He slowly gave into the Force...reached out...

He opened his eyes as sheer terror gripped him. Fett. They _had _sent him. He hadn't been able to search the hunter's mind, but he could feel the ship in his mind. A big monstrosity it was. Guns. Weapons. Stuff to inflict pain on..._him—Yolgun! _He squeaked not unlike the twenty legged spikklon and wanted so badly to hide. He ran with Force-speed to the cavern the most furthest away. Fett was like a hunting reptile. Cold. Calculating. His mind was more machine than man. All those gears turning, shifting...

He stopped. Reached out with the Force again. The hunter was coming closer...

Yolgun fainted.

He awoke to find himself in the cargo hold of _Slave 1_. His pulse rate shot up again and he shivered at the sight of Boba Fett clad in armor. Holding his Blaster-Tech rifle as though it was his best friend.

"So, you c-caught me", Yolgun the Third squeaked out.

Fett was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time for the Quackian.

"You had what was coming to you". Fett walked off silently, still holding his beloved weapon.

Three years later...

He escaped from the Emperor and had managed to live on Coruscant without managing to be found.

Yolgun looked over the plans for now ancient cruisers and star-fighters. He found himself interested in such things. The things of the past were admirable although not entirely glamorous. His main interests lied in the technical wonders of 3000 years BBY.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.  
"Yol, we have a visitor", his wife, a Kaminoan by the name of Gruma Va, said in her silky smooth voice.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"My sister Cruma Na", she said flatly.

Yolgun felt his spines shift in exasperation, his scale color becoming a sick green.

Cruma Na was always negative and seemed to carry Kamino's weather around with her whenever she visited Gruma, her sister. Smart, intelligent, and full of facts—but lacking any other wits about herself. She wasn't even pretty. Her body did not even possess the lithe grace of a normal Kaminoan (she was even a little on the chubby side).

"I am so glad to see you, Gruma Va. I had a wreck. The traffic is awful. The sky is sulfurous. It is dry. There is a lack of sufficient H2O today",he heard Cruma Na say. He decided that now would be a good time to hide from the two females. They'd be all about his floating apartment, complaining about the dry weather of Coruscant.

"It's not that bad, Cruma".

"Ah, my hide is shriveling in this awful place. Come back to Kamino with your husband".

"He's a Quackian. He cannot adapt to wet climates. I'd much rather stay here".

"Ay, but..."

The portal beeped.

Yolgun's scales turned dark blue out of relief and he rushed out of his hiding spot—and past his wife and wife's sister (yuck!)—to answer it. He tapped out the code with clunky fingers and waited for it to _whoosh_ open.  
A Gungan stood in the just outside of the portal, wearing as serious expression as she could muster before giggling hysterically.

"Oh, hi Bla", Yolgun said without enthusiasm. One of his wife's friends. His wife was lovely, being the ideal Kaminoan female—she had her own female circle of fans it seemed because of it. Gruma was even prettier than Taun We. She even had more grace than the older female had.  
"Mesa so happy to sees yousa!" Bla said in her irritatingly high voice.

_I must flee this place _Yolgun thought. He watched Bla as she sat on the high table (his wife being a tall Kaminoan had all their furniture in the house large, oblong, and white).

"Oh, Bla, how good to see you. Make yourself comfortable. I'm making some blutherfish from Kamino if you want some," Gruma said, her voice cheery and light. Her emotional atmosphere was welcoming, as always.  
"No thanks. Mesa not hungry. Mesa ate fish-monster already".

Bla grinned, her omnivorous teeth showing. She patted her belly to indicate the presence of food down there.

Yolgun was about to head out the door when two small Ewoks entered.

His scales were now red tinged with much annoyance. He'd wanted to have a special time with his wife. Why'd all her friends decide that now would be a good time to visit her?

Because this day is a holiday his wife tossed the thought at him.

He blinked his violet eyes. He was a little stunned.

"Gruma"—

Cruma stopped topping and glared down at the little alien.

"Excuse me?! I was talking!"

Yolgun backed off. His sister-in-law could also be a little sensitive and immature.

He waited for Cruma to get done describing the weather in a very technical and dull way.

"The exhaust fumes from the machine factories are going to add up over the years, deary. You might consider leaving this place soon before your lungs go black and shrivel and before your neurons disintegrate because of poison in the atmosphere. I had a friend who moved to Geonisis. She shriveled up like Tatooine and then the Geonosians ate her", she said in her usual it-could-happen-to-you type of way.

"Now, now, Cruma. My lungs are fine. My neurons are not about to short circuit or disintegrate on me", Gruma said, trying to calm her sister down.

"Ay, but Kamino is your real home and..."

The voices faded as Yolgun walked off. He was tired of listening to the too females.

He continued looking over the old ship designs. The old Firespray ship looked like a floating vertical dinner plate.

"Darling? What was it you wanted to say?" his wife called out, her voice light and still carrying a homey feel to it.

"Oh, yeah!" He nearly forgot.

He walked out as fast as his hoofs could carry him.

He stopped in front of his wife, bowed to Cruma, and opened his mouth to say...

"Mesa leavin' now becausa mesa hubby might be hungry", Bla said lightly before leaving.

Cruma Na sighed in relief.

"If she'd stayed any longer I'd have been suspicious of robbery", she said.

Gruma just rolled her big eyes (they always look as though they hold the entire galaxy Yolgun thought, inwardly smiling).

"Bla is one of my best friends", she said out of exasperation.

"Hmph. I had a best friend at one time too. Until I saw her attack my pet blob and eat it. I would have buried it in the oceans, but she ate the whole thing, the little"—

Cruma said something very inappropriate for a Kaminoan lady.

Uh, oh Yolgun thought to himself. He slowly stepped backward into his quarters.

He'd never seen his wife's temper go off. She could be stubborn as a bantha and as stern as Yoda, but without raising her voice. Yolgun hoped she wasn't going to raise her light voice at Cruma's little curse.

Of course not. I'm just calming my sister down a bit. Why don't we go to Kamino for a while, dearest? Perhaps Cruma might feel better there.

He heard the thought of his wife in his mind. She still carried her loving personality even in the thoughts she sent him.

Rest a spell, okay lovey?

Yeah right. With those two talking like—

Yolgun's thoughts were interrupted with the sudden urge to sleep. He was aware that it was put on him by force and he wasn't too pleased about it.

You've been up since before the Great Sphere. You've been busy hiding your lightsaber and Jedi trinkets. You've worked so hard on recovering your ancient race's shipyard plans. You didn't expect Cruma to come over. Relax. No bounty hunter is coming after you again his wife's caring thoughts entered his head again. She even seemed to be smiling!

"Yes..."

He fell asleep.

Fidros Cullen, a human male bounty hunter, had received the urgent message from Darth Vader to capture Yolgun the Third of Quack for a sum of eighty thousand credits. This was precisely the same time Gruma Va was telling her little husband that no bounty hunters were after him.

Fidros was a young man. Twenty-three, to be exact. He wore no armor that would intimidate his quarries. He also carried no obvious weapons. He didn't want a shootout to start whenever he picked up some unlucky criminal.  
Fett probably already got the message earlier and had left to capture Yolgun the Third.  
Well, Fett'll just have to get through me to get my prize Fidros thought, deciding to wear armor and weapons anyway. Fett was like a serpent. Very deceiving, and cunning.

Too bad he'll be blown to bits before anyone can say Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Everything was spinning...spinning...

Yolgun woke up from his nightmare to see that he was floating in his sleep. With the ground miles below him.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!" he screamed waving his arms and legs wildly.

Relax. Boba Fett is here looking for you. I thought you'd want to get away from here his wife sent him.

"Like this?" Yolgun gasped out. The oxygen was thin up here.

I'm sorry. I put you up too high didn't I?

He felt as though somebody with very strong arms were lowering him. Someone with invisible arms.

"Where am I?" was his next question.

On the other half of Coruscant. I could move you to Kamino if you wish. Boba Fett wouldn't search there. His wife's thoughts carried hope in them.

Kamino would be a nice place to visit. He just wondered how his wife would do it—

The Coruscant ground and cities way below him suddenly blinked out and the wet weather and roaring seas of Kamino appeared instead.

The mental hands carried him down slowly and gentle onto one of Tipoca City's landing platforms. He was surprised to see Taun We exit the shiny transparent slide doors as if she'd expected him.

I notified her and Lama Su that I was bringing you here.

"Hello, Yolgun. It is such a pleasure to see you again", Taun We said politely and led him inside.  
"We must explain some things you never knew about Gruma Va", the tall and lithe Kaminoan said, waving her arm with grace. Her hands, though, looked big and clumsy in comparison.

She tilted her head to one side suddenly and her eyes took on an unfocused look.

I told her she can wait. You need to get dry his wife's thoughts penetrated his mind. She sounded tinny from so far away.

He wondered how she was doing. He missed her already. Ever since their wedding, they had only been away for fifteen minutes at the most. Gruma worked at home using electronic mail service. He collected old pictures and diagrams of an older and more less known galaxy as they knew it. He was one day going to get rich on such artifacts. He just knew it.

"You can stay in your own separate or you can stay with Cruma Na. She'd be very glad to see you", the older Kaminoan was saying, "I'll bring you some new clothes and then we and Lama Su will talk about Gruma".

Yolgun chose his own personal apartment. He did not want to get entangled with Cruma's complaints about the wet weather.

When it is hot she complains, when it is wet and humid she complains—Ay, she drives me crazy! he thought as he tried on the new clothes.

"Oh, Heol Li! Oh, yoohoo! Heol Li!"

He heard Cruma Na's faint voice being carried out. He was also very aware that his sister-in-law didn't act like a Kaminoan, either. She was extremely emotional, not to mention having a crush on one of the male employees of Tipoca City.  
"Come back, you little cuddly shnookims..."

Yolgun's tall spines stood up on end in annoyance.

Being comfortably warm and dry, he ran with Force-speed to meet with Taun We and Lama Su.

"Hello, Yolgun. Now we will begin the discussion. As you know Gruma Va and Cruma Na are both clones of the same mother. Cruma Na had no flaws in her and she has the very same genotype and personality of her mother. Gruma Va, on the other hand, wasn't the exact replica of her mother. Let us show you the data from when we first began our project and at the time when she was older", Lama Su began. Taun We whistled and a record droid rolled into view. It looked brand-new except for the fact that its wheels made irritating squeaking sounds on the hard floor.  
Yolgun watched Taun We bend down and push a set of buttons on the droid's neck. Then she and Lama Su both stepped back. He took this as a cue for him, too, to step back. The droid released a holographic and microscopic image of the tissue samples from his wife. He noticed that nothing appeared wrong.

The droid then released another microscopic image of the same set of tissues. This time, though, there was indeed something odd about them.

"Can we zoom in?" he asked.

"Yes. TZ-17, zoom in 50%", Lama Su said.

This time Yolgun could see the obvious mutant factor in his wife's old tissue sample.

"I never knew", he said slowly, softly.

"Mr. Fett, you may come back anytime. You are always welcome here", Gruma Va was telling the bounty hunter as he was leaving. She probed the hunters mind secretly to see what he was thinking about. She smiled mentally.

He was thinking about Taun We. She must have reminded him of the now much older assistant secretary of Kamino. She also learned that he did not believe that his quarry would welcome him there. He had a lot better things to do than to get his head blown off. Although, Gruma Va did seem nice. Perhaps he would see her again.

She stopped probing his thoughts. His speeder zoomed away to where his ship was docked.

"No, my husband would not like it", she murmured to herself. She was glad that the hunter hadn't known that she was Yolgun the Third's wife. The whole time he had asked for Yolgun, she had been literally reading him like a book. He once threatened her, but she brought memories of Kamino up in his mind and he stopped midsentence.  
She talked up a storm to him about Yolgun, whom she called here her "Master". She had decided to be truthful and told him exactly everything. She even gave him her "Master's" history and how he had told her about his childhood on the planet Quack.

She now sat down, tired from all the mental exertion she had performed today.

She wasn't used to doing so much in one day.

"Why didn't you tell me before about Gruma Va's case?" Yolgun demanded of the two Kaminoans. Lama Su and Taun We both exchanged glances as if wondering which one would tell him first.

"It was the clone template's best wishes that we keep it secret from you. I believe that she may have been hoping that no one would notice that one of her clones was a mutant. But, she was obviously wrong", Lama Su finally said.

"When was there first signs of my wife's mutations after she was born?" Yolgun asked them both.

"You saw the pictures..." Taun We started.

"No, no! I mean, what were the first outward signs of her mutations?"

"When she was a toddler, we noticed a great deal amount of activity in her neurons. She also kept saying she could lift, but most workers had assumed she meant lift something with her hands", Taun We said, tilting her head as though trying to recall as much as she could about Gruma Va's abilities due to mutation.

"Hello, is Yolgun the Third at home?" the young man asked, standing in the portal of Yolgun and Gruma's hovering Coruscant apartment.

He was nervous, Gruma could tell even without reading his mind. He kept looking around as though being watched. His face, though once may have broke into a grin in his life, was hardened and his physique seemed unnaturally muscular. He was a man hardened by...being a bounty hunter and killing and capturing for pay.

"No, he isn't home. But do come in". Gruma motioned with a slender pale arm to the interior of her home.  
He shook his head.

"No thanks—but I may come back later". And he gave her a fake smile before leaving.

"Take care, now. Boba Fett was just here not too long ago. Be very careful", she warned him innocently.

He had been climbing into his small starship when she said this. He stopped and his head turned toward her. Then he chuckled and climbed the rest of the way in.

"You failed me Fidros Cullen. You will not fail me again. I want that Jedi dead before the next year!" The holographic message of Vader faded and sizzled out. Fidros, the young bounty hunter, felt his forehead perspiring with sweat. He'd been on edge the whole time he'd been over at Yolgun the Quackian's house. Especially when that Kaminoan had invited him in.

Yolgun had probably been there hiding in the shadows and you were too cowardly to come inside! he was thinking as he went into hyperspace. He'd return the very next morning.

But someone else would await him there that morning.

Yolgun was relieved when his mutant wife teleported him back to Coruscant. He'd been getting tired of listening to Cruma's persistant whining about how she was going to drown in such bad weather. He'd almost wanted to shove her out an open window. Of course then, that would be even more a reason for a bounty hunter to search for him.

When he learned that two hunters were looking at him and not just one, he'd been very grateful that Gruma had been smart enough to leaved him at Kamino for several hours until she was sure there would be no more danger.

"Phew! And I'd thought I'd have only Fett on my trail", he said after hearing Gruma's tale. Strangely enough she hadn't sounded as though she despised the man who would dare hurt her husband. Her voice had had a touch of pity in it. Even when she mentioned the other hunter, she had described him as being fearful.

"The Empire is the cause of that, love. That and the fear of me", Yolgun said, his scales a bright cheery green.  
They stopped talking about this for a moment, for there was the familiar electronic sound being emitted from the portal.

"Hide. I'll get it", Gruma Va said calmly.

Yulgon scampered into the shadows, wishing for a moment that he could just swing his lightsaber and, just maybe, bring down the hunter.

"Gruma! Mesa sos happy to be back!" Bla's voice could be heard saying.  
He heard his wife and the Gungan female talk to each other enthusiastically. By this time the portal beeped again.  
Oh, Sith he inwardly cursed, thinking of how long he'd have to stay under the bed before all his wife's female friends would leave.  
But it wasn't another female friend at the door. It was...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIII! IT'S A HUNTER! HE GONNA KILL MESA!"  
I'd rather be shot by one than to listen to you he thought, rather disgusted with Bla's big mouth.

"Show me where Yolgun is!" the familiar synthesized voice demanded, sounding unearthly next to Gruma's calm, quiet, and serene manner.  
Yolgun wished he was a wombat and could hide from that hunter. He reached out with the Force for his wife. She was calmly taking in the hunter. He was relieved, and yet not so relieved.

"If you love life, show me where he is!" the hunter demanded once more.

"Hiding under the bed"—Gruma Va told him where this was.

Sith spit! Gruma! How could you? Yolgun thought, his spines laying flat against his back, his scales becoming a dull gray color. He decided that it would be best to get up than to have himself dragged out by that...man. If one could call him that.

He is only a man and with just as many faults and weak points. Don't worry. I'll frighten him so badly he'll never want to hunt again he was reassured by his wife's pleasant voice in his mind.

He was suddenly pulled off his feet by the Mandalorian.

At last, Fett had achieved his goal. He had captured Yolgun the Third for the second time. He felt pleased with himself and felt like killing the Jedi Knight there and then.  
Instead he lead the Jedi with his hands bound into the opening where stood that Kaminoan and...that Gungan. The Gungan was sniveling in a corner, saying, "Oh, don't kill mesa! Mesa innocent—innocent!"

Such behavior disgusted him. Meanwhile, that Kaminoan was looking straight at him. There eyes were meeting. His was behind a mask and her own pair were bare and serene. He was glad for one that Kaminoans were stupid in some areas. She didn't even look as though she missed her "Master". Well, he was glad of that. He'd had enough battles. Destroying that other so-called hunter ( he's nowhere as good as I am ) Fidros Cullen had been a tedious task.

He had stopped for a moment, watching that slender alien, but then decided to move on. Or tried to. His feet were glued to the ground. No. He couldn't move his head or his arms. His logical brain told him it was possibly some sort of force-field. Either that or Yolgun was a powerful Jedi.

He tried to open his mouth to talk, but couldn't. It, too, was glued shut by some unknown Force.

He saw the Kaminoan blink a few times and tilt her head back and forth as one does when trying to make a decision over a piece of fruit. Her sweet and innocent expression gave way to a glare.

He tried to talk again. Thankfully, the invisible hold on his mouth had been released.  
"What...are...you..." he couldn't finish. His esophagus was closing, constricting. Weird music started in the room. Screams could be heard above his head, down below, from side to side.

Boba Fett, hmm...I never knew you had a crush on Padme. Hmm...how interesting. You want to shoot me? Go ahead and try, but who knows how many are reading your mind like a book. You call yourself the most powerful bounty hunter? You seem weak to me. You've not washed your ship in three weeks. Odd—it always looks dirty to me an almost childish voice said in his head.

He couldn't breathe. He saw spots before him. And Mace Windu. Mace Windu? Where did Mace Windu come from? He then saw his "father". He realized what was happening and tried to keep cool. But his mind was in a frenzy, trying to push against images that were not his own. Emotions that had been his long ago was suddenly pushed up. Images of himself since yesterday and past swirled around him in a sick green haze. His memories were becoming garbled when they reached past when he was a toddler on Kamino...

"S-s-stop!" he managed out.

"You leave my husband alone and I will stop torturing you. But, remember Boba Ambu Fett, I will be watching you. All my friends will be watching you as well. We can hear you. We can also destroy you, hunter. You think that your thoughts are hid from us all, don't you? It worked for Jedi Master Mace Windu, but that doesn't work for us!

"I honestly do not wish any harm toward you, but if you even lay a finger against my husband, you will live the rest of your life locked up in your own mind!" Gruma Va threatened, her voice stern and angry.  
For the first time in his life, Boba Fett was shaking. Not from anger, but from fear. The most feared bounty hunter himself was afraid. Not just of the Kaminoan, but of her friends as well. Surely Bla...

"She isn't", the Kaminoan said almost reassuringly.

Fett didn't even look at her as he walked out. His head was down like a boy being scolded by a parent and he left like a canine with its tail between its legs. He was embarrassed that he'd been so frightened. Maybe...

Remember, Fett he heard that frightening voice say. He left speedily, hoping that Vader wouldn't Force-choke him.

"Dear, did you have to do that? That was freaking me out as well!" Yolgun said, rubbing his now released hands. They were sore from the darned metal cord the hunter had used.  
Not to mention a splinter underneath one of his claws. He must've received that from being under the bed. He'd remember to clean their room later.

A sigh, a moan, and then a loud THUMP!, on the floor. Startled, he looked up and saw his wife on the ground in a faint. He'd never been so frightened in his life. His young wife had never even so much as tripped over something before. She'd always been strong and healthy.

His one instinct was to run around the apartment screaming.

But, he remembered something very important. He closed his eyes and tried to reach out to his sweet love using the Force.

She was there and she was coming out of her faint slowly.  
"Yolgun?" she said in an almost shy whisper.

"What?" He was anxious to hear what she had to say.

"I shouldn't do that so much. I over-exerted my abilities today. I feel weak, and so-so tired", she said slowly, as though her larynx were tired as well.

The lids of her huge almond shaped eyes were half-closed. She stared up at him for a moment before her lids closed all the way.

Her breathing slowed and then...stopped.

"No, no, no! GRUMA! Don't...die...", Yolgun shouted as though he could bring her back. He reached out to her with the Force. She was there, but faintly.

Her breathing was still there, only it was very slight. Very slight.  
He checked her pulse, feeling like an idiot for not using the Force right after she shut her eyes and went limp.  
I'm a coward and I'll probably die a cowards death.

He managed to carry her awkwardly to bed. He knew he'd have to notify the Prime Minister of Kamino about this.

"So, Fett, Yolgun is dead?" Vader asked, the holographic message transmitted to Slave 1.

"Y-yes, sir. H-he's dead", Fett managed out, still terrified that others could be tapping into his thoughts. Tapping into his thoughts, making him see things he didn't want to see...

"Good!" The dark figure fizzled out.

"How long has she been ill and in that state?" the Prime Minister asked after Yolgun waited for a few hours for his reply to his message.

Yolgun looked over to where his wife lay, her head on a fluffy white pillow, the blankets twisted from her delirium.

"For over five hours", he answered Lama Su's question.

"I'll bring Kidro Ru to"—

A moan from Gruma interrupted the Prime Minister.

"—check her over". The hologram clicked out abruptly.

Yolgun felt a little bit better, although she was now back in her delirium. She'd start groaning and then she'd start crying for, "Mommy!" like a little girl Kaminoan. It was as though her own memories would come back. Before, she'd been saying, "I do, I do, I do!" over and over again in a happy, happy, tone. There had been even a smile on her face. After that she'd been complaining about Cruma, how she always complained.

"She's never satisfied!" Gruma had murmured in her feverish sleep, her eyes partially open and yet unseeing. Yolgun had reached out to her using the Force dozens of times. Or had tried to. Her mind was blocked—he couldn't reach her. It was as though she was closed off from everyone else.

"Tonna We?" the voice said, being an adult's and yet carrying the same inflection of a young child. She giggled.

Yolgun's fears came back as he realized what she was doing. Her mind was travelling back in time. He just hoped it would end before she would babble like a baby. Because after that, she'd be gone...

He paced the room, every once and a while looking upon his lovable wife, and then looking away as he couldn't bare to see her like this.

He hoped that that Kidro Ru would come soon. He'd only been married three years, surely his wife would be all right.

He tried using the Force again, closing violet eyes and using a calming technique before attempting to reach Gruma Va again.

Dearest, dearest sweet wife, I'm here he sent her, managing this time to get a hold on her mind. Still keeping his eyes closed, he searhed through her mind, trying to find the cause. He couldn't find anything.

Gru, please come out. Don't stay there. You're married. Remember me? Remember... he sent and then stopped as her mind took on an awareness of him, of her surroundings, of the bed, of the clear sheet—she was abruptly out of her delirium.

"Wh-what happened?" she asked him wearily.  
"I don't know, love. It scared me, though".

As it turned out, Kidro Ru did come all the way to Coruscant to check her over. All he did was take samples of her blood and tissue and then leave. To Yolgun, that sounded heartless. The young male didn't even talk. He only grunted at the Jedi, uncharacteristic for a Kaminoan, and then proceeded to prick his wife with needles. Oh well, at least the love of his life seemed a great well better.  
Cruma Na, Bla, and Huchi and Duchi (the Ewok girls) visited her and fussed over her, saying how they hoped she'd get well soon.

"Get well soon?" she'd asked and then laughed, "I'm well enough to tackle Darth Vader and then some!"

Yulgon had been there in the midst of them. He hadn't minded them. He'd had over his share of trials since the day before yesterday. Being around a bunch of nosey females was no skin off his nose. At least, not for now.

The portal beeped.

Not, again! Yolgun thought out of exasperation. He secretly hoped it wasn't another bounty hunter. He didn't want his wife to overtax her mental strength. There was some sort of backlash she received whenever using her mutant abilities. He almost wished she'd never been born with it.  
Now, if I hadn't been born with it you would have been captured and brought to Vader his wife's thoughts entered his mind.

What?! Love, you shouldn't be doing that! he sent her by use of the Force.

I can't help it. I hear everyone's thoughts... his wife said mentally ...I can't shut them out...

"Um, Sis, Bla, Huchi and Duchi—I'm not feeling well right now. Would you mind departing from my presence until I feel up to visitors?" she asked them.

"Okie-day. We'll leave yousa alone", Bla said, grinning goofily and then leaving with her sister and the twin Ewok sisters.

"Better now?" Yolgun whispered to his wife.

She nodded her bald white head.  
"Yes, I-I think so...I can usually shield! What's wrong with me?" she asked him, sounding worried and so confused.

Yolgun didn't answer, but he took her long fingered hand anyway as a way to relieve himself of his own deep fears.

"Gruma Va, what a pleasure it is to see you again!" Taun We said in her usual mellow voice.

Gruma nodded her head courteously and then followed Taun We to her new quarters on Kamino. Her husband was on Coruscant, probably still shocked that she'd disappeared while they were inside their saucer-shaped cruiser.

She'd been thinking about her husband—worried that something bad would happen to her and that he would be heartbroken. She had been anxious also to get to Kamino to see the test results of her blood and tissue samples. So she'd telekinetically moved herself to Kamino by just wanting to be there.

"Gruma Va, the results of the tests are very interesting indeed. Your mutant genes are even more prominent now than when you were born. We want to take a body scan of you to see how else you are doing", Kidro Ru told her when he was finished looking at her DNA and genetic makeup.

Yulgon, meanwhile was on his way to Kamino to be with his wife. He'd had enough of staying home and doing nothing. He wanted so badly to be with his darling. They were hardly ever separated from one another. He couldn't bare it like a young bantha can't bare to be separated from its mommy. She was his everything. He remembered that day they had first met clearly.

He had gone to Kamino to have some clones of himself made, but once he laid eyes on that young Kaminoan female with those expressive eyes, enchanting smile, and graceful build with her own personality attached, he was in love with her. She had been like a tall Iego angel. He'd thought she was deep down inside. There was something fairytale about her. Something enchanting that had enthralled him so. He wasn't one to fall in love so easily. At first he'd been upset that of all the species to fall in love with, it had to be a Kaminoan. As far as he knew, Kaminoans had no real love relationships. Being together was work for the planet's survival. They had a job to do—cloning, and didn't allow relationships to get in the way.

He'd left Kamino, having told the assistant cloner that he didn't need the clones. He had come back, though, the very next morning and to his surprise then, asked Taun We if he could talk to the young Kaminoan who had been with her. The assistant cloner had looked pleasantly surprised at this request, but nevertheless, told him he could and also told him her name—Gruma Va.

Taun We had asked him to wait right where he was standing. He'd waited for only a few moments when Gruma came walking rather quickly with Taun We behind her. The older female had been trying to keep up her speed, but Gruma was a lot quicker.

Just being around her again seemed like a breath of fresh air in a galaxy that was falling apart under Emperor Palpatine's iron fist. He'd even heard that the Empire had erected a Death Star capable of destroying whole continents (later on he learned that it could destroy entire planets).

She'd been so happy to be with him and glad he'd returned. As it turned out, she had been in love with him from the start as well. That would explain her very happy mood that day. He hadn't ever seen her even look solemn that day. What had also enthralled him about her were her eyes. They weren't like the others. They were warm and expressive—almost magical.

They had gotten married six months from that day.

His ship came out of hyperspace and he saw the blue water planet seemingly right ahead of him. He entered the stormy atmosphere peacefully, using the Force to guide him to the landing platform of Tipoca City. He pulled down the hood of his waterproof cloak and exited the ship via landing platform, stepping out into what seemed to be a ferocious hurricane. Big and fat drops of rain drummed on his head and back. He tried not to get so wet this time, but to no avail. He might as well have gone without that cloak. He entered the familiar doors. He saw a worker off duty and asked him if he knew where Kidro Ru was located.

"Yessir. In the lab", the Kaminoan said in a high voice, pointing a clunky gray finger down what appeared to Yolgun to be a maze of white corridors.

How'd I ever be able to get to the lab? I don't even know where it is! he thought, his scales becoming blue tinged at the very tips of them from his exasperation.

He walked for quite a bit, meditating on the Force while trying to find the lab. He reached out using the Force, going through the maze into the very core of Tipoca City.

He felt as though he was floating in midair. But it wasn't the Force.

Without opening his eyes he said, "Lovey, I can find it on my own. It isn't especially healthy for you to be doing this".

I know, but it feels good. My mind doesn't feel so...heavy his wife replied. She sounded happy. He'd never seen her grin from ear to ear like some aliens, but she sure was doing it mentally.

Just be careful

Okay, love. You want to take the shortcut?

Huh? Um, no thanks. Put me down, please, Gruma. I am capable of finding my own way he sent her, holding her hand using the Force.

All right. But if you feel like a shortcut, please tell me

Her presence in his mind left abruptly and he dropped to the hard floor.  
He walked for two hours when he was suddenly teleported back to Coruscant.

He blinked his violet eyes in surprise. He was also surprised to see his loved one grinning real big, her blue tinged eyes filled with a joy he'd never seen her have.

She was obviously done with the tests they had run on her. She had a few more needle marks from more blood extractions.

"What's made you so excited?" he asked, smiling back at her.

"Can you guess?" she asked, twirling around daintily.

He watched for anything different. He was hoping to see something big. Like wings. But he couldn't really see anything.

His eyes wondered from her pale white face to her navel—then below that to the small lump protruding from her womb.

No, it can't be! he thought, searching the lump by way of the Force. It was. He, too, was overjoyed by the prospect that there would be another person in the family.  
"What did Kidro Ru say about the fetus?" he asked curiously after a moment's wait.

Gruma's eyes seemed to grow sad, and she sighed softly.

"He said I should have a suction cutteredge because I'm a mutant. He said it would be too hazardous. He even wanted to put me out using tranquilizers so he could murder our child—for our own so-called benefit. So I teleported and brought you with me", she said slowly, as though she couldn't quite believe that had really happened. He couldn't quite believe it either. Forcing one of their people to abort was—

"Settle down. Getting mad about it won't help anything. I will mention it to Taun We and Lama Su", she said, encouragingly.

Throughout the next five and a half months the fetus in Gruma Va's uterus took up more space. The days went by without any sign of trouble. Gruma Va was doing well until the sixth month (or eighth as she was two months pregnant before finding out about it). That was when the trouble started...

Fever. Voices in her head. Aliens from another galaxy...

"Honey, I'm here. I'm with you!"

Yolgun's voice pierced the nightmare like a sword, slicing the evil aura in half. She blinked her galaxy filled eyes and stared up at him. Her rubbery pale skin was perspiring with sweat.

She sat up in the bed she'd been resting in that afternoon. Her eyes showed naked fear and Yolgun looked away from them.  
"Gru, my love, it's the same one, isn't it?" he asked her, sitting beside her.

"Y-yes—it was the same. But I believe I shall be fine now", she said slowly as if somehow doubting she would be fine. She removed the fear in her eyes and smiled at Yolgun the Third. He had his eyes closed. She didn't mind it whenever he reached out to her using the Force. Some species might feel embarrassed, but not her.

"I can't sense anything about you that's off. Perhaps our child could be sending you bad dreams?" he said, thoughtfully.

"What? Dirka sending me these nightmares. No. My girl wouldn't think of doing such things. She wouldn't know how, really, either", she said, now out of bed.

"Hey, hey—Dr. Smills told you to lay down and rest in the afternoons. I've heard stories of how easy it is for Kaminoans to go into labor".

"It is not all so easy for us to go into labor as you say it is. Why—ooooh!" Gruma stopped talking and moaned.

At first, Yolgun thought she was going into labor, but she was staring into space, seeing something he couldn't see. Her hands were warding off an unseen attacker. Her eyes were filled with hatred, loathing, and...desperation.

Her husband tapped into her mind by the Force, and tried to find what she was seeing in her mind. He probed deeper and deeper into her thoughts. It appeared as though nothing was there until...

Look!

She made him see what she was seeing using her telepathy.

His eyes widened in horror and disgust. The creature before him appeared human, but it was wearing organic materials and its face also had other species' scales and skin pieces sewn into the skin. In its right hand it held a whip.

You cannot defeat us. We are the Yuuzhon Vong!

Yolgun looked around, trying to find who it was speaking, but realized that it was in his head.

What is your motivation to infest this galaxy? he heard Gruma think.

Heh, heh, heh! It is ordained by the gods! You...will...die!

The alien gave a shriek of insane laughter and Gruma Va cried out in pain.

She tried to leave the confines of the "vision" only to realize that creature was forcing her to keep watching him.

Yolgun, meanwhile, had stepped out of it. Well, he almost stepped out of it.

He was aware of Gruma beside him, the bed, the elaborate window panes...

Darth Vader was ready to Force-choke one of his Imperial officers when his vision was suddenly filled with an evil even greater than his own.  
A few parsecs from Hoth, the Rebel forces were seeing the very same things. Everyone in the galaxy stopped what they were doing as Gruma Va broadcasted about what was happening.

You will all die! the creature shrieked.

Gruma didn't back down this time. She tried to penetrate the horrid barbarian's shielded mind, only to be pulled back in her own, with a migraine attached.

"Ooooh!" she moaned again, holding her head.

Yolgun watched as his wife continued to battle the alien.

But that wasn't the only alien. Gruma's vision was now being filled with ships pulling inside the galaxy, their ships having fire-power greater than the Executor. Hundreds poured in. Thousands.  
NOOO! Gruma mentally cried out in anguish at the sight.

The creature laughed hysterically. She "pushed" him away. He screamed as she managed to destroy him.

She "watched" the ships pull into attack formation.

Jedi Knights, I cannot do this alone! she said to all the Jedi Knights her mind could find.

We will help a dozen voices, some alien, some human said inside her head. Together they "pushed" the fleets back. Gruma used her mutant abilities to destroy some of the ships. They burst into yellow balls of flame with nothing touching them.  
ATTACK! the Yuuzhon Vong replied. Gruma gritted her teeth, and tried to find their thought pattern. She pierced through their thoughts and minds with a fury she'd never experienced before. She was furious that they would dare attack this galaxy. She would much rather be under the Emperor's rule than those!.

One of the aliens screamed in agony as he died.  
Gruma, Gruma!

I know, dear. I remember that backlash. Yet, I must help the Jedi Knights get rid of them

Gruma, no! You almost died after scaring Boba Fett, and now you want to use your powers to---GRUMA!

Yolgun was pulled back into his own mind, his surroundings that of the room. He saw Gruma, more beautiful to him somehow than ever, was slumped on the floor, her eyes open. He tried to reach out to her, but could feel nothing.

Gruma Va was no more. Yolgun wept in deep sorrow at the loss of his wife.

"Yolgun, you have a healthy daughter! Look, she looks just like Gruma", Dr. Smills, human medical physician, was saying to the Quackian.

Yolgun took the baby in his arms, feeling like he was going to cry. It did resemble his beloved Gruma. Fresh memories of her came to mind and he felt tears spilling onto his face.

He handed the babe back to the doctor who in turn handed her over to the care of a nurse.  
"Yolgun, she saved all of us. Without her sacrifice we wouldn't be here", Smills said, sounding almost heartless to the widower.

"Yeah, but..." Yolgun tried not to cry while he was talking, "why did she have to die right then? I loved her so much. We had..." he stopped for a moment to calm himself down "...a family getting started. But the Yuuzhon..."

He couldn't finish and began to sob out of grief. Even as he did so, he knew deep down in his heart, that everything would be all right in the end. But he would forever grieve the loss of his dear Kaminoan wife, Gruma Va.

The End

A/N: How did you like my story? The review box is down there in the corner of the screen, just waiting for you to press it :-)


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